G23 Instruments manufacture precision engineered, minimal drift, low noise microelectrode holders for research groups around the world. The company works closely with active research staff within the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology at University College London and other institutes and its novel equipment and designs have been thoroughly tested under rigorous research conditions.We market microelectrode holders for Axon Instruments headstages, all HEKA patch clamp amplifiers, Sutter Instrument amplifiers, most NPI electronic amplifiers and spares for our holders. Our electrode holders have been recommended for low drift long term recording and stability by both Axon (prior to their takeover by Molecular Devices) and Burleigh Instruments (Dec 2010: “Pipette drift sources and solutions for patch clamp recording experiments”).

The differences between our holders and those of other manufacturers are:

The design of our electrode holders greatly reduces the chance of movement of the pipette during patch clamp recording, which is undesirable but often occurs during changes in pipette pressure. It does this by supporting the electrode glass at two points.

Our holders are engineered for discrete sizes of pipette glass and we can ensure less drift during an experiment than those from other manufacturers whose holders can accommodate multiple sizes.

Our holders are made from low noise polycarbonate. Some other manufacturers use metallized components which add more electrical background noise during recording. Some use Teflon pipette (electrode) caps which, from our research experience, will 'creep' during long experiments and loosen the hold on the pipette, leading to increased drift. Our holders only use Teflon for the connection to the headstage, which has no effect on your experiments.

All our holders are precision machined rather than moulded.

As a small specialist company, G23 Instruments works with active researchers to continually develop its products and we are able to customise our microelectrode holders to suit particular requirements. Please contact us if you have a particular need.